Tri-town summer resident Diane Mello said she's been to other Christmas home tours, but this year it was time to give Marion's Holiday House Tour a try.

"This is lovely. Just beautiful," said Mello. "Everyone's holiday friendly."

On Saturday afternoon, Mello came with two friends from Wareham to visit the houses and shops on the Sippican Woman's Club's annual tour. The event featured four homes in town along with information about their histories. Each location featured Christmas decorations by different members of the club.

The event began with a stop at Handy's Tavern, the Sippican Woman's Club's headquarters, which was all dressed up for the holidays with Christmas trees, wreaths, decorated mantles and a festive tablescape.

An 1823 home on Water Street was the next stop. The house has been in the Goodwin family since 1943. In addition to the nautical accents already on the family's wall, the banister was wrapped in garland, stockings were hung by the chimney with care and the tables were decorated with fresh green arrangements.

Another stop on the tour was a beach house on Bayview Road, doubled from 750 square feet by local architect Anthi Frangiadis. Frangiadis showcased several pieces of artwork and design details from her shop on Spring Street. She was also on hand to discuss the elements of her design.

Not far from Bayview, an expansive modern home on Moorings Road elicited oohs and ahhs. The home was built in 2010-11 using the Japanese aesthetic wabi-sabi, described as the "beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete."

Bunny Mogilnicki of Bunny's Boutiques said she took cues from wabi-sabi to make her arrangements for the home, some of which included fir fronds and driftwood.

"I tried to choose unique designs," she said.

Mogilnicki has decorated seven previous houses.

"They've all been pretty traditional," she said. "This one was entirely different. It was outside my comfort zone."

The designs in all of the houses were appreciated by visitors.

Sandi Stowe of Wareham said she enjoyed how the homes were staged for the holidays, and that homeowners opened up their houses to the public.

"Hopefully they know how much we appreciate it," she said.

In addition to houses, a holiday luncheon was held at the First Congregational Church and St. Gabriel's Church hosted an afternoon tea.

Proceeds from the event go toward scholarship awarded to local students.